High School Musical 3 Nightmare

Chris and I were so excited when we found out his employees daughter (an extra in the film) had extra tickets to the red carpet premiere showing of High School Musical 3. After keeping it a surprise for almost a month we told her the news the morning of the show. After getting all dressed up in our "best we could do" cocktail dresses, Chris came home with the news that our evening was going to cost an unexpected $32.00, yes that was just for the two of us. The tickets had already been purchased by his employee and so there was no turning back. Saige and I left expecting for free treats and drinks since the tickets were so expensive, only to be greeted by lines where we stood in our uncomfortable attire for almost an hour an a half just to get our tickets. And after all that waiting, it was just the movie and nothing else! Needless to say, we were very dissappointed; especially, when we could have taken the whole family, gone to a matine with our cousins, and with no lines for less money. We were both so exhausted by the end of the movie we contemplated a sleepover at my parents, but just couldn't get home fast enough.

Early Halloween for Ayden

In advance of Ayden's surgery, we sent a flyer around to all our neighbors in our cirlce in an effort to have an early Halloween for Ayden. It was great! If they were going to be home, we asked them to put a ghost on their door, and when we got home that eventing almost every door on our street had a ghost. The neighbors really helped it feel like it was Halloween night. We live in one of the most wonderful neighborhoods in the world, and our surrounded by such great people. Thanks to all that made the night a special one that we will never forget.

Here is the flyer we sent out:

As you may or may not be aware, our son Ayden was diagnosed with congenital heart disease shortly after being born 3 years ago. The most prevalent of his disorders is known as hypo plastic left heart syndrome, which will eventually require our little Ayden to endure a heart transplant.

His doctors at Primary Children’s Medical Center refer to him as their “superstar” because of his unique diagnosis and ability thus far to recovery from many procedures so quickly - despite coming so close to loosing his life.

While Ayden has been through 3 open-heart surgeries and numerous catheter operations, he has yet another difficult open heart surgery upcoming on October 21st, just 10-days before Halloween.

Ayden may be in the hospital for several weeks after this surgery, and will still be recovering by October 31st. As Ayden has been so excited about being “Buzz Lightyear” for Halloween this year, we can’t bear to see him miss it!

So...we are soliciting your help in celebrating a
Happy “Early” Halloween for our little superstar.

We would simply like to bring Ayden Trick-or-Treating to your door sometime between 6:30 - 7:30pm on Saturday October 18th. If you are going to be home and this would not be too much of a burden, please place the GHOST on the other side to your front door before 6:30pm the night of the 18th.

Surgery Has Been Postponed

As many of you know Ayden was supposed to have his Fontan today. Unfortunately he came down with a 24 hour stomach flu on Sunday which made us assume surgery was off. When I called the hospital Monday to inform them Ayden had been sick they told me to take him to the pediatrician to get his opinion on if he was well enough for surgey since he was doing better. After Dr. Witt checked him out he called the nurse practioner to get more info on his surgery. We were both a bit surprised when he heard they were planning on doing the AV Fistula and not the Fontan. The nurse practioner said to head to the hospital to get the paper work started while she checked with the cardiologist and surgeon to see what procedure they were really planning on doing. When I got to the hospital to get the paperwork started the papers said the Fontan so I had them page the nurse practioner to see if she had talked with the Doctors. To make a long story shorter we decided to postpone surgery since Ayden had been sick and there had been a discussion the Wednesday prior of possibly doing the AV Fistula to get him the oxygen he needed now and to buy him more time until he was bigger for the Fontan.
As crazy and confusing as this all seems I know the Lord hears and answers our prayers. It may not be in the way we intend or want,but he is mindful of us and our situation. He has a plan and a purpose for us each one of us and I know it was not his will for Ayden to go in for surgery today.

Helicopter Rides

On Saturday my sister took her daughter Aspen for a ride in the helicopter at Thanksgiving Point. After the ride my sister told them about Ayden going in for open heart surgery and asked if she could bring him back for a free ride. So that evening we prepared the kids that only Ayden would get to go in the helicopter with Emily but we could all go and watch. When we got there Michael one of the Helicopter Dudes picked up Ayden and as he did tears whelled up in his eyes. Michael couldn't stand the thought of all those kids having to watch Ayden be the only one go up and so he gave us all a ride on him. Chris and I were a bit hesitant about letting our friends little girl Emma go since we didn't have there permission, but she really wanted to go so we turned the situation around and thought if she were a our child what would we think and we both came to the conclusion that it was a fun opportunity we wouldn't want them to miss out on but we would be a bit dissappointed to miss it. So we let her go and took a picture for mom and dad as well. The kids were so excited and all wanted to go again Saige even said "that was the most exciting thing ever" need I remind you we just got back from Disneyland.

We would like to give a special thanks to Michael and the rest of The Helicopter Dude crew for not only making Aydens night but the rest of the kids as well. It was a fun opportunity they would have missed out on if it weren't for there kindness and generosity.

Halloween Party

We were excited to squeeze a Halloween party in before Ayden's surgery; especially, since he has been so excited to be Buzz Light Year, and there is nothing like a party to give the kids an excuse to see there cousins and run around uncontrollably. They had fun being pulled on giant beach towels in a relay race, pumpkin bowling, a cake walk, eating donuts with no hands, as well as a few other games. We would like to thank Danny's mom Laurie and her family for allowing us to join them each year.

Disneyland

It has been said, "the family that plays together, stays together".  Well, in the case of our family trip to disneyland we can also say that the family who invades a hotel together, finds ways to avoid long lines together, walks endlessly together, braves massive crowds together, worries constantly where all the kids are together, rushes to bathrooms together, crams onto the trolley together, eats mass packed lunches anywhere together, gives multiple piggyback rides together, shares exit-entry ride passes together, takes pictures together, runs down the hotel hallways together, eats unusual taco meat together, rides Tower of Terror together, takes 18 kids under the age of 13 to the beach together, worries together, smiles and laughs together, all while having the time of their lives together definitely and-without a doubt- stays together! (But we missed Uncle Adam)  

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a family trip we couldn't live without and a trip we'll never forget!

We just got back from spending the last week with my family in California. Ayden has been talking about going back to Disneyland since the last time we went two years ago. Uncle Danny made arrangements with the hotel to do something special for Ayden since he was going in for open heart surgery when he got back. When we opened the door to our hotel room they had the room all decorated with balloons, prizes, and a large plate of freshly baked cookies just for him. It was great to have all of us together at once but we did miss Amy's husband Adam who couldn't make it due to his work schedule. We spent three days going back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure Park and a day at Newport Beach. The kids loved being with all of their cousins, there were 30 of us in all. As you can imagine it was quite the crowd we were afraid after the first day at the hotel they were going to kick us out since all the kids kept running back and forth from one hotel room to the other, having relay races in the hall and playing in the elevators.

Uncle Danny also made special arrangements with Disneyland and got Ayden a special Guest Assistance Card that allowed him to basically walk on just about every ride. I don't know if I could ever go back to Disneyland and wait in line. We were definitely spoiled thanks to Danny and Ayden. Grandma and Papa bought all the grand kids suckers on our way out the first day. I'd have to say Addison enjoyed it the most.

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Chris's Aunt Becky was able to join us our second day at the park. We definitely wore her out but she was a good sport and we enjoyed her company. We were also able to have dinner with Becky and Mike at Bubba Gumps the following evening which I'm sure was a fun change for them having no kids.